'We're going there to win' - Exeter keeper

Story by[]Brent Pilnick - BBC Sport EnglandFri, January 9, 2026 at 5:42 PM UTC·2 min readThree of Exeter City's past four away games have been at Huddersfield Town, Cardiff City and Bolton Wanderers - all stadiums that have hosted Premier League football. It means Exeter's players, more used to the 8,700 capacity of St James Park, will not be as surprised with the scale of Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoonAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementGoalkeeper Joe Whitworth is one of the few Exeter players to have experienced an away trip at Manchester City. The 21-year-old, in his second season on loan at the Grecians from Crystal Palace, was an unused substitute when the Eagles lost 1-0 at City in March 2023."We're going there to win - there's no doubt about it," he told BBC South West. "I think that's the main mentality that the manager has instilled in us."Obviously, we are playing one of the best teams in the world but we're looking to go and win and that's what we want to do."So that's our mentality and hopefully we can go there and put the best performance that we can in and see where that takes us."AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhitworth has become a favourite at Exeter since joining in the summer of 2024. He has made 78 appearances for City in that time and has kept 10 clean sheets this season as part of an Exeter side that have the second-meanest defence in League One. The lifelong Palace fan is hoping he can emulate his colleagues at his parent club when they beat Manchester City in May's FA Cup final at Wembley."It was incredible to see," Whitworth said.